


Private Citizens

by kethni



Series: Bad Things [8]
Category: Veep (TV)
Genre: F/M, Marriage, request
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-01-01
Updated: 2020-01-01
Packaged: 2021-02-27 11:48:39
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,880
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22066534
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/kethni/pseuds/kethni
Summary: ‘But I know my brother. He doesn’t need perfect. He just needs you.’
Relationships: Kent Davison/Selina Meyer
Series: Bad Things [8]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/364298
Comments: 19
Kudos: 16





	Private Citizens

**Author's Note:**

> For anonymous

Duncan was taking out the trash when he saw them come in the back door. He turned around and angled so that he could see the front door as well. They were there too. They were different races and different heights, a couple of them were women, but they looked the same anyhow. Same dark suits. Same dull shoes and same dark glasses.

The ones at the back door clasped their hands in front of them. One in the front blocked the doorway. The other walked totally ignored the rest of the staff and walked straight over to Duncan.

***

Duncan had flown in a plane before but never in a helicopter. He pressed the ear defenders against his ears, like that might help. It sure didn’t help his stomach. Duncan had always thought that turbulence was something that happened now and then not every second of the trip. He’d come close to throwing up a bunch of times a few times already. Leastways the turbulence took his mind off the anxiety.

The man and the woman sat opposite him hadn’t said word one since he’d got into the helicopter. They just stared. Maybe at him. Maybe at nothing. He couldn’t tell.

Duncan had been to the White House on a school trip, just like thousands of other kids. They’d come in a bus and trooped along all in a crocodile. He’d never thought about arriving by helicopter. That was what rock stars and presidents and kings did. Not kids who worked their way through grad school at the local pizza place.

When he landed, he was met by a guy in a bad suit and chunky glasses.

‘Hello! Hi! I’m Richard! I work for President Meyer! Come this way please.’

‘What’s going on?’ Duncan asked. ‘These CIA guys won’t tell me shit.’ Duncan didn’t swear much. He hadn’t been raised to think of obscenities as something petty. They had weight. They meant something. So, when he said _shit_ , he meant it.

Richard blinked behind his thick glasses. ‘These aren’t the CIA. They’re the Secret Service.’

Duncan swept his fingers through his mop of hair. ‘Does that change the answer to my question?’

‘Oh, I don’t know the answer to that,’ Richard said cheerfully. ‘I don’t know what’s going. It’s way past my clearance. I never know what’s going on.’

Duncan blew out his cheeks. ‘Is my uncle okay?’

Richard thought about it. ‘I don’t know,’ he said. ‘Who’s your uncle?’

***

The residence was something that Duncan had probably been told about sometime but if he had then he’d forgotten. He’d sure never thought about it, not even when he found out that Kent was dating Selina Meyer. If he _had_ thought about it, then he’d have guessed it would be bigger and grander. Not this warren of little rooms decorated like his grandma’s house.

‘Here he is!’ Richard said, gesturing widely, as if unveiling the grand prize.

Duncan punched Kent in the shoulder. Not _hard_ , he wasn’t a boy given to violence, but his temper was feeling distinctly frayed.

‘Oh! Oh my gosh!’ Richard burbled.

Kent looked across at him. ‘Thank you, Richard, you can go now.’

‘They didn’t tell me anything,’ Duncan said, in a low voice. ‘I thought you’d been shot again.’

Kent pulled Duncan close and hugged him tight. ‘I’m sorry. They didn’t know. This is highly classified.’

‘You could’ve told me,’ Duncan mumbled against Kent’s neck.

‘I couldn’t,’ Kent said. ‘But I wanted to.’

Duncan stepped back and rubbed his eyes. He looked Kent over. ‘Never saw you in a tuxedo before.’

‘Have you ever worn one? There is a selection to choose from over there.’

Duncan looked over at the racks of tuxedos. ‘Are we going to a funeral?’

‘Better than that,’ Kent promised.

***

‘Please don’t cry,’ Kent said.

‘I’m not fucking crying! You’re fucking crying!’

Kent rolled his eyes. ‘You’ve been married three times.’

‘So fucking what?’

Devon cleared her throat. She was struggling not to fidget with her hair. She was pretty sure that the two hairdressers and four makeup artists cost more than she was paid in a year. ‘Might I speak with my brother alone?’

Ben threw up his hands. ‘Fine! It’s not like he has anything he wants to _ask_ _me_ ,’ he snapped.

‘Could you check on Richard and Chad?’ Kent asked. ‘They’re next door.’

Devon raised her eyes as Ben stamped away. ‘What’s his beef?’

‘I genuinely have no idea,’ Kent said. He absentmindedly rubbed his shoulder. ‘It seems to be everyone’s day for being angry at me.’

‘I’m not surprised if that’s how you wear a bow tie,’ Devon said. ‘Stand still. I’ll fix it.’ As she untied and tied the bow tie, she realised that Kent was shaking. ‘Are you okay?’ she asked quietly, looking into his eyes.

‘Terrified,’ he said.

Devon tilted her head. ‘It’s not to late to run away,’ she suggested with a smile.

‘I wouldn’t do that for the world.’ He smiled as she stepped back. ‘Thank you.’

‘It’s not every day that my baby brother gets married,’ she said softly.

***

Skye heard the yelling as she was glaring at the selection of shoes. It was a lifelong trial having small feet. You’d have thought that the great and powerful US government could have found out her actual shoe size since it was apparently beyond Kent’s gigantic brain to know it. Failing that, how the hell was it that Selina Meyer, a tiny woman who barely reached Kent’s chest, apparently had bigger feet than Skye?

Skye looked around when she heard the yelling turn to sobbing. _That_ couldn’t bode well. She was kind of an old hand at getting married, and tears before the ceremony had never worked out well for her.

She lifted the skirts of the scoop neck, mermaid cut dress that she’d selected from the rack, and padded out of the room. The sobbing was quieter now but close by. Skye knocked on the door, half hoping to be told to go away.

‘Come in,’ someone mumbled.

Well, darn.

***

Amy was tapping at her cell. ‘You okay?’

‘Me?’ Sue asked. She was working on a tablet. ‘My battery level is lower than I would prefer.’

Amy glanced up briefly. ‘Kent getting married.’

Sue looked at her blankly. ‘And?’

‘He’s your ex. People get bent out of shape about that shit. Not me, obviously. But people.’

Sue cocked her head. ‘Kent moved on a long time ago,’ she said. ‘I moved on before that.’

Amy looked at her again. ‘And now he’s marrying POTUS. The goddamn president. In terms of status that’s kinda… up there.’

‘True,’ Sue admitted. ‘Nonetheless, she isn’t me. Therefore, she can only ever be second best.’

‘You really believe that?’

‘It’s a simple fact.’ Sue was thoughtful. ‘She seems to make him happy. He deserves that.’

Amy shrugged. ‘Let’s hope he carries on making her happy. It’s gonna make our jobs hell if it all goes to shit.’

***

Selina blew her nose noisily. ‘Did I fuck up my foundation?’

Skye tipped up her chin and looked at her face. ‘Little bit under the eyes. Nothing we can’t fix real quick.’

‘Think he’ll notice?’

‘Kent? Maybe,’ Skye said. ‘He’d be more worried what it meant.’

Selina shook her head. ‘I ripped my dress.’

Skye moved across to the dresser and found the foundation. ‘You got us a bunch of dresses. You don’t have a spare yourself?’

Selina nodded. ‘Yeah, Gary has like eight. I wanted that one.’

Skye dabbed the foundation under Selina’s eyes. ‘Lemme guess, you wanted so much for this wedding to be so perfect and now it feels like it’s all ruined.’

‘Stupid, huh?’ Selina asked.

Skye sat back. ‘Romantic, maybe,’ she said. ‘I understand, being a romantic myself.’ She smiled. ‘But I know my brother. He doesn’t need perfect. He just needs you.’

***

Duncan didn’t know the guy who was hanging around looking all hangdog. Duncan wasn’t good at guessing ages of anyone older than like… forty, but he figured the guy was around Kent’s age. He didn’t seem to much like Duncan, but he didn’t seem to like Kent much either.

‘You’ve got the ring?’ he said to Duncan.

‘Yeah,’ Duncan said. ‘It’s right here.’

‘You’re not gonna lose it?’

Kent shook his head. ‘Ben, back off, Duncan isn’t going to lose the ring.’

Ben looked at Duncan dolefully. ‘This is important, kid.’

Duncan put the little box back into his inside pocket. ‘Sir, I don’t know how you know my uncle, but I’d rather lose my arm than this ring. That’s all I’m gonna say about that.’

Kent clasped his shoulder. ‘Thank you.’

‘Where’s my thanks?’ Ben asked.

Gary scurried in. ‘Are you ready? It’s nearly time! We have to get going!’ 

Ben squared his shoulders. ‘You _sure_ you wanna do this?’ he said to Kent. ‘If you have any doubts, any at all, this is your last chance. Past this point and you’re committed. Shit gets incredibly difficult to fix past this. Sure, there’s separation and divorce and all that, but’s is _hard_. It’s so fucking hard.’

‘You wouldn’t!’ Gary hissed.

Kent looked at him. ‘No, I wouldn’t,’ he said. ‘I rather thought you didn’t approve of our relationship.’

Gary sniffed. ‘You’re not good enough for her.’

‘She chose him, dude,’ Duncan said. ‘Sucks. It always sucks.’

‘That doesn’t matter,’ Gary said stiffly. He looked at Kent. ‘Selina chose you, so you _will_ go to the wedding, you _will_ say your vows, and you _will_ mean them!’

Ben shook his head. ‘Oh, you didn’t.’

Kent was quiet for a moment. Then he held out his hand to Gary.

‘What is going on right now?’ Gary asked nervously.

‘You love Selina,’ Kent said. ‘This is difficult for you, but you want her to be happy. I respect that.’

Gary’s shoulders dropped. He took Kent’s hand and shook it. ‘Okay, but we need to get going now.’

‘Then let’s go,’ Kent said.

***

The room was small but bright sunlight blazed through the windows lending the small number of guests already there a soft, warm glow.

Duncan straightened up as he walked down to the front with Kent. In a church it would’ve been the aisle. In a church he wouldn’t have been walking with Kent. That wasn’t how it was done. Maybe it was how Kent would do it. Being “given away” by his nephew was _exactly_ the sort of thing he would do.

‘You okay?’ Kent asked Duncan, as he stepped in front of the officiant.

‘Are you?’ Duncan asked.

Kent thought about it. ‘I’m excited, terrified, hopeful, frightened, and every other point on the compass.’

Duncan smiled. ‘You know she’s stood in the doorway, right?’

Kent turned to watch Selina walking down towards him. Duncan had to look away from the expression on Kent’s face.

***

Marjorie rubbed Catherine’s back. ‘It’s okay,’ she said.

‘I know,’ Catherine sobbed. ‘I know.’

‘It’s so beautiful,’ Gary wailed.

Amy gave his shoulder a half-hearted pat.

‘I can’t believe you won’t be publishing this,’ Chad said.

‘Don’t tempt me,’ Richard Gauden grunted.

‘She looks good,’ Sue allowed.

‘All of my wives looked good,’ Ben said. ‘It doesn’t prove shit.

Kent pulled Selina close and kissed her. ‘Hello, Mrs Davison.’

She grinned at him. ‘Hello, Mr Meyer.’ 


End file.
